A Night of Horror

The Levite and his party are enjoying the simple pleasure of a quiet evening in the home of their gracious host in Gibeah. Suddenly, however, the calm is shattered when “certain men of the city, perverted men [lit. “sons of Belial,” or “sons of the devil”] surrounded the house and beat on the door.” Their demand—the old man must give them the Levite for homosexual rape. One of the most heinously sinful events of the Bible—the attempt by the men of Sodom to assault two angels (Gen. 19:1–11)—is occurring again, but this time the perpetrators are not godless pagans but Israelites. “One could not imagine that ever it should enter into the heart of men that had the use of human reason, of Israelites that had the benefit of divine revelation, to be so very wicked,” Matthew Henry writes in his commentary. “This was the punishment of their idolatry, that sin to which they were, above all others, most addicted. Because they liked not to retain God in their knowledge, therefore He gave them up to these vile affections, by which they dishonored themselves as they had by their idolatry dishonored Him and turned His glory into shame, Romans 1:24, 28.”

Like Lot in the same situation, the old man is a stranger in a strange land. But he bravely goes out to face the mob at his door. He pleads with the men not to do what he calls an “ ‘outrage’ ” and “ ‘a vile thing.’ ” He begs that they will respect the sanctity of his home. Then, incredibly, he makes the sort of offer Lot made—he will give them his virgin daughter and the Levite’s concubine if they will but restrain themselves from the abomination of sodomy. In this “he conformed too far to Lot’s example,” Henry says. “He had not power thus to prostitute his daughter, nor ought he to have done this evil that good might come.” But even this vile offer does not appease the men.

It is difficult to understand what happens next. Perhaps the Levite, seeing that the men of Gibeah want only him, is filled with terror. In what looks like a crass effort to save himself, he pushes his concubine out into the midst of the mob. His plan succeeds—with the woman in hand, the men forget their desire for the Levite and focus on ravishing her throughout the night. Only the coming of daylight drives them away. As they go, the woman, badly injured, manages to crawl to the doorstep of the old man’s house. There she collapses and dies.